This was published 5 months ago
How Silicon Valley lured ‘tech-savvy’ Cummins to US league
By Malcolm Conn
Pat Cummins became Cricket Australia’s first $3 million player last year, and earned another $3.67 million at this year’s IPL, but money had nothing to do with him joining the San Francisco Unicorns in America’s fledgling Major League Cricket competition.
Australia’s Test and one-day captain was planning some time at home but has instead jumped at the opportunity to build relationships with some of America’s most successful entrepreneurs in nearby Silicon Valley.
The most an MCL player can earn is about $300,000 for seven regular games and, potentially, two finals. Cummins earned more than $216,000 a match in the IPL.
The lead investors in the San Francisco team, Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, friends from Chennai who completed computer science PhDs at Stanford University and have become successful entrepreneurs, initiated the chase for Cummins.
“Of course we’re huge fans of Pat Cummins and really wanted him to join the team,” Rajaraman told this masthead. “But what really helps us out is how sort of tech-savvy and forward-thinking Pat Cummins is.
“He was thinking of his career beyond cricket, and he’s thinking about how to do interesting things at the intersection of technology and cricket, even after his playing days are done.
Pat Cummins was the leading Australian bowler in the IPL.Credit: AP
“He felt it would be valuable for him to develop deep relationships with Silicon Valley. We are, fortunately, in Silicon Valley, and we can help connect that.
“All the top companies and the top venture capitals are here, and we can help him network and build the kind of knowledge that he wants about start-ups and venture capital and so on. That’s why it kind of worked out.”
Cummins’ manager, Neil Maxwell, said the player was excited about the opportunities.
“He’s a very curious bloke, and he likes to learn,” Maxwell said. “He finds that learning about these things is really interesting.
Aaron Finch captained the San Francisco Unicorns in the USA’s Major Cricket League during their inaugural season last year.Credit: Getty
“There’s a range of people connected to this franchise, including the CEO of YouTube, CEO of Adobe. It just opens up Silicon Valley.”
Cummins, who is in the West Indies preparing for Australia’s Twenty20 World Cup match against Bangladesh on Friday morning (AEST), may be the world’s only premier fast bowler with a degree in business management.
It was a strange signing because the Unicorns are supported by Cricket Victoria, while his home state of NSW supports the Washington Freedom. The four other teams in the MLC are run by IPL franchises.
Rajaraman and Harinarayan approached Cricket Victoria chief Nick Cummins about signing the elite paceman.
Nick Cummins once worked with Pat Cummins as general manager of the Sydney Thunder, and knew it would take more than another T20 competition to clinch the deal.
“Pat was pretty clear: ‘I’m not looking for more opportunities to play cricket,’” Nick Cummins told this masthead.
“My conversation with him and Neil was more around, ‘This is so much more than cricket, thinking about your aspirations and what you want to do beyond cricket.’
“It’s a chance to connect with the tech community in Silicon Valley, connect with the greenest state in America around what he’s doing for Cricket for Climate [an environmental organisation], and I think that’s what really excited him about it.”
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